“Holy shit, that one was bad.”

The beeping was still going off in the room when a short nurse that looked smaller than Em walked in. She went over the machine that monitors the contractions, pushed a few buttons, then asked Em to roll over onto her left side. She placed an oxygen mask on Em’s face as well.

“Why does she need that?” Finn asked, concerned.

“There are a few decelerations in the baby’s heart rate when she’s having a contraction, so we are giving her some oxygen to give baby and mommy a boost.”

“Should we be concerned?” Finn asked.

Em looked at the nurse with anxious eyes.

“No. It happens sometimes, and it’s pretty standard procedure. We’ll just move you in different positions that suit the baby. It’s okay, momma, you can relax.” She smiled before she walked back out of the room.

Another contraction hit Em, and this one was apparently brutally painful. Tears streamed down her face, and she squeezed the bed sheets. When she came down from the pain, she looked over at Finn with red teary eyes and said, “Finn, I need that epidural. Call the nurse back here, now.”

Finn shook his head and said, “Em, you told me you’d do this. Remember, you said you wanted an unmedicated birth and to talk you out of any medical intervention if you asked for it?”

She reached over and grabbed him by the shirt, yanking him down to her level on the bed. “I don’t give a flying fuck what I said, you get me those drugs … NOW!”

She started panting through another contraction. Finn looked at me with mild humor and a little bit of apprehension.

“You heard the woman. Get her the drugs,” I laughed.

An hour later, Em was sitting up in her bed eating ice chips. She’d had to wait for the anesthesiologist to get out of surgery before he could administer her epidural, but now that she’d had it, she acted as though she hadn’t just spent the last few hours crying and yelling in pain. In fact, she was downright hilarious. The doctor had come in to check her progress not too long ago and she was almost ‘complete’ … whatever that meant.

As Em shoveled another spoonful of ice in her mouth, she looked over at the clock and said, “Uhhh, its two-thirty, why isn’t Dr. Phil on?”

Chuckling, Finn said, “Well, Dr. Phil wasn’t exactly your priority a few minutes ago. But if it’s Dr. Phil you want, then it’s Dr. Phil you’ll get.”

While he was flipping through the channels there was a knock on the door. Finn glanced over at me and gave me a weird look before telling whomever it was on the other side to come in.

Before I’d even turned around I felt him. His presence invaded my senses, and my whole body stiffened. I heard the door open and that familiar voice hit me in the gut. “So am I an uncle yet, or what?”

I turned and faced him. His eyes locked on mine and I was frozen.

“Hey, Ky,” Em and Finn both said.

He still didn’t remove his eyes from mine, and I began to feel like an idiot staring at him. Finn cleared his throat, which sounded quite loud over the television. Ky tore his eyes from mine and walked over to the bed. After giving Em a kiss on the cheek he hugged Finn, slapping him on the back.

“Hey back, Shorty.” He spoke to Em. “Aren’t you supposed to be in labor or something? Every movie I’ve ever seen the women are all sweaty, and act like they are dying and want to kill their husbands.” The three of them laughed.

I would have rolled my eyes at him but I felt leery about Ky being there. How come I hadn’t known he was coming? That must have been the reason why Finn had looked at me the way he did. Seeming relaxed and as though the situation wasn’t awkward for me at all, Em smiled and Finn smiled back at her.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that she hasn’t, just that she can’t really move because of the pain when she wants to do it,” Finn responded. “You just missed all the action.”

A brief moment of silence came over the room before Kyler looked me straight in the eyes. “Hey Harper, long time no talk.”

Straightening my shoulders I responded with a simple, “Hello, Kyler.”

What I really wanted to say to him was that I didn’t know how I was feeling. I hadn’t realized how strange it would feel being in the same room with him until I saw him and breathed in his scent. I wanted to know where those feelings were coming from. It had been my choice to step away from him. It was for the best, wasn’t it?

He gave me a brief nod and turned toward Finn. The two of them moved over to the other end of the room to talk. What in the hell did that nod mean? I stepped to the side of the Em’s bed, ready to have words with her for not telling me Kyler was coming. In labor or not, that woman had some explaining to do. How could she not tell me he was going to be there? She must have seen my agitation on my face as I approached because she held up her hand to halt my argument.

When I got close enough she said, “Before you say anything, I didn’t know he was going to be here.” I looked at her like she was full of it. “Well, I didn’t know until we were already here, and I was in too much pain to even remember Finn telling me he’d called him. My attention was elsewhere.” She rested her hands on her belly. I silently berated myself for making this about me.

“I guess I can’t fault you for that, since you’re playing the ‘I was in labor card’,” I sighed.

She giggled and her round stomach bounced with her laughter. “I knew you’d give me a pass. But seriously, why is it such a big deal that he’s here? I thought you two ended things mutually?”

I hadn’t exactly told Em the entire truth about how I ended things with him. I’d told her that we’d both decided we couldn’t find time for quick visits while he was out touring so we should put the relationship on hold. If she knew I had been the one to walk away, and that I hadn’t been responding to his emails and texts, she would go off the handle. She knew my past relationship pattern, including my habitual need to end things before I allowed it to get serious or even get a chance to see where it could go. Honestly though, it was my life, and if I wanted to walk away from a relationship—no matter the reason—that was my business. I reasoned that I just felt guilty about it this time because she loved Kyler. She still had hope that we’d work out and he would be the one to break my serial dating streak. Sorry, Charlie, I’ll settle down when I’m ready to.

Not wanting to lie to her, but not wanting to get into it either, I told her, “I was just surprised to see him, is all. Isn’t he supposed to be in New York City or something with the band?”

“Yeah, but they let him come here for the next two days. He wanted to come support us, and I’m happy he did. Finn needs a friend to share this with.”

She was right. Even though I may not have wanted him there, Kyler was Finn’s best friend, and Finn deserved to have another guy here to talk to. Peeking at Ky out of the corner of my eye, I saw him looking over at me before turning back to Finn. Asshole. Why did he have to look so good?

Several more hours passed and Em lay in comfortable silence, having dozed off shortly after our chat. At around seven in the evening, she woke up from nap number two feeling contractions again. Finn called the nurse in. After checking her, she told him that it was baby time.

“Now?” His face was pale.

The nurse smiled at him. “Yes, Daddy, right now. She’s ready to start pushing.”

“That’s my cue. I’m out!” Ky got up from the rocking chair he had planted himself in an hour previously and moved towards the door. “Push hard, Em.”

She yelled for Ky to “shut up” before he closed the door, grinning. As much as I’d hoped he would leave so I wouldn’t have to see him again, I’m sure he’d just go to the waiting room.

After a particularly painful contraction, Em blew out a long shaky breath. “Why am I feeling them again?” she asked the nurse.